DEARBORN - Walking along Salina Street in the shadow of the old Rouge Steel plant, Yasser Maisari says he is proud of the new homes in the neighborhood and the new public school for which Arab residents fought so hard.
Just blocks away in southwest Detroit, Angie Reyes points to young Latino families and burgeoning storefront businesses in neighborhoods that are among the most densely populated in the city.
What outrages them and other residents of this historically industrial area - where waves of immigrants have flocked for generations for jobs in the factories and foundries - is living and working in air that is the most polluted in the state and some of the most polluted in the country.
The effort to rid the community of its chronically dirty air and its negative health effects has drawn together Arabs and Latinos, communities often divided by language barriers and culture, in a common battle of political activism at community meetings and public hearings.
"That is the only good part of all this mess," Maisari said, gesturing to the dirty air outside of his door.
"It is bringing all of us together. In the process, it is nice to look across the room to see that there are our Latino brothers and sisters. It makes you feel less small."
For Reyes, an activist on issues in the Latino community, it is like seeing the people who are critical to the area's advancement melting together in one pot.
"Our communities really overlap a great deal," Reyes said. "We're attending joint meetings, and some of the leadership has been really working together."
Federal and state officials agree that the dirty air is a significant problem. But the officials also say the air is cleaner than it was, especially 30 years ago, before the Clean Air Act.
For at least five consecutive years, the tiny particles that seem to saturate the air exceed the national standard by measures of 15 percent to 33 percent.
Health officials say the minute solids can enter the bloodstream and the lungs, causing cardiovascular problems even in normally healthy people. They also can lead to serious complications for those who suffer chronic health problems like asthma or who are at risk of heart attacks and stroke.
Homes in the neighborhoods, bounded by the Detroit River, Michigan Avenue, Miller Road and West Grand Boulevard, are cheek by jowl with several smaller manufacturing and industrial companies and huge complexes like the Ford Motor Co.'s River Rouge plant and the former Rouge Steel plant, which is now Severstal North American. While residents say they have concerns about specific local companies in the area, none of them has been cited recently for enforcement actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Ford has made major investments in air pollution controls, and many residents and environmental advocates say they doubt the company's sprawling historic complex is a significant part of the problem.
Officials of the EPA and DEQ say they will have a plan in place as early as next year that could result in cleaner air over the next several years.
But as they revitalize an old-but-bustling area of Metro Detroit, the residents say they are troubled there has been no crackdown on area businesses that pollute.
This summer, when a local pollution monitor near Salina Elementary School registered the most polluted air in the country, some officials and environmental activists said the high readings were partly caused by dust from a soccer field under construction nearby. But while the air is marginally cleaner since the field was completed, the area still has the grittiest air in the state. John Mooney, an environmental specialist for the EPA office in Chicago, said the recent readings remain the highest in the six-state region that includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and 35 American Indian tribes.
"The soccer field excuse was a big joke," Maisari said. "All you have to do is walk out in the morning and look at your car. The coating of metallic dust shows how bad it is.
"We just want someone to tell us what's in the air, so we know what we are dealing with."
Reyes, Maisari and other activists and residents say they fear there is anecdotal evidence of increasing health problems among their neighbors that may be tied to the pollution - asthma, strokes, cancer and even mental illness. But residents complain that no one is studying the issues.
"What we see is a real problem with pollution levels that are unhealthy for everyone, especially for sensitive populations and particularly people with asthma," said Kathryn Savoie, who works on environmental issues for the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.
Residents from the diverse ethnic groups are planning participation at public hearings, organizing research and conducting telephone campaigns. They hope their efforts will help document the local sources of pollution and any resulting health problems so they can hold governments and businesses accountable.
But they have met with a lot of frustration.
"We try," said Mahmoud Ijbara, who built a new home on Salina Street after he arrived in America from Jordan in 1990. "But every time we ask, especially about health - and that's our main concern, right now - we get nowhere.
"What we are learning is that government and politics are slow and cumbersome," said Ijbara, also known as Mike.
"Aren't they supposed to release some information to the public, especially if we are in danger?" Ijbara said. "Both of my sons are developing asthma, right now. We have been told by the doctor. I have some friends who have sick children, and that's why we have to find out exactly what we are breathing."
Some public officials, including members of the Dearborn City Council, have gone so far as to suggest that the residents move from their homes, where they have led revitalization efforts. The residents say it is a bitter pill for people who believe they have accomplished the goal of redevelopment that has eluded other areas of Metro Detroit.
"Why would we leave?" said Maisari, a pharmacist. "I came here when I was 16 1/27 years old from Yemen. We lived on Salina Street until my dad bought a house on Amazon. When I finished my studies, I wanted to stay in the community. Because we value the importance of grandparents, when I had two kids at the time, I bought a new construction house on Akron, right down the street."
Although state officials asserted that the air is cleaner since the soccer field was finished, it has exceeded standards by about 27 percent for at least five years running.
"We have great concerns about what is going on there," said Mooney of the EPA in Chicago.
Dearborn Mayor Michael Guido said he met with state Environmental Quality Director Steven Chester for two hours last week and asked about the impact of proposed development in the area on the quality of the air.
"I grew up in the South End, in the shadow of the Rouge Plant, and there was always particulate matter on the cars and on the sheets that were hung outside, drying," Guido said. "Is it perfect now? No. Can we do a lot better? Yes.
"My concerns are always balanced between jobs and having these kinds of businesses."
The EPA is beginning to designate new areas that have too much small-solid air pollution. Then the EPA will ask the state for a program to clean the air in those areas and evaluate those plans. As part of the process, state officials say they would survey factories and other businesses in the area to determine what air pollution they produce. State and federal officials say that it will take several years for air quality to improve.The residents say that's not an attractive scenario and they vow to continue working together.
"We haven't always been together as communities," said Maria Anita Salinas of Community Action Against Asthma. "Both the Hispanic community and the Arab community are struggling for leadership, and there's a lot of things going on politically.
"Southwest Detroit has a really unique relationship with Arabtown because we have been living together for 20, 25 years. You will see a lot more collaboration in the coming year."
You can reach Gregg Krupa at (734) 462-2296 or gkrupa@detnews.com.
Latest Metro/State reports 
